Image Description: Journalists sitting on the ground in a huddle holding their microphones and cameras, along with protesting signs.
Shortly after 2:30 pm on June 28, 2018, journalists working at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland were violently interrupted by an armed attacker. Before the gunman was taken into police custody, he gunned down 5 journalists, leaving others “gravely injured” according to Anne Arundel County Law Enforcement. Only 48 hours before, far-right journalist Milo Yiannopoulos remarked to reporters that he “[couldn’t] wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists,” and United States President Donald Trump repeatedly labeled the free press as “the enemy of the people” at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. While no details have been released regarding the gunman’s motives, any observer could connect the dots – it is even more believable considering the far-right has been spouting anti-Journalist rhetoric for decades.
When the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, one of the first actions the government took was to gain control over all media available to Germans. Not only did the Nazi Party moderate it’s own radio stations and newspapers, but the regime also shut down newspapers that reported on their actions in an unsympathetic light. In order to simplify the process of shutting down dissident journalists, the Nazi party flooded their own newspapers and radio stations with anti-Communist rhetoric, then framed dissident journalists as traitorous Communists. With the general population filled with fear, it was simple for the government to imprison dissidents, destroy the offices of anti-Nazi newspapers, and, as the regime continued to gain power, kill any journalists who spoke against the regime.
In modern America, where fascism is on the rise, the government doesn’t have to directly lift a finger against journalists anymore. Anti-journalism rhetoric shared by Donald Trump, Milo Yiannopoulos, and countless other far-right figureheads is striking fear and hatred into the hearts of sympathetic Americans across the country. Firearms flow freely without restriction because many political figures receive funding from organizations like the National Rifle Association to support the proliferation of firearms throughout the country. If enough angry Americans with guns believe that the free press is out to destroy America, who’s to say that they won’t continue shooting up the offices of journalists in defense of their country? Rather than giving commands to the SS, Donald Trump is building an army of citizens who will jump at his beck and call and eliminate “enemies of the people.”
Why would the far-right be interested in suppressing journalism? Because without journalism, there is no one to reveal the atrocities committed against people of color, women, queer people, trans people, disabled people or political dissidents. Without journalism, there is no one to hold fascists accountable to the rest of the world in hopes of stopping the continued destruction of human rights, not only in the United States, but around the world. The far-right wants its cultural and economic hegemony to continue, and removing journalists from the picture only makes that goal easier to obtain.
Knowing the tactics of our oppressors is only part of the battle. The far-right would much rather scare dissidents into submission and force them to act in support of the regime than engage in direct action against dissidents. This is why, in the beginning of Nazi rule over Germany, Jewish people were encouraged to emigrate to other countries rather than immediately detained by the regime. We must remember that allowing fear to control our lives is not the solution that will bring fascism to its knees. We must support one another throughout the struggle and continue to fight back against those who would like to keep us silent, both to ensure a safe future and to commemorate the fighters we’ve lost along the way.
